Recent book launchings / ‘Come to the Stable’

A book honoring Andres Bonifacio and Ninoy Aquino was launched last month at the NCCA office.

Written by Prof. Tomas Ongoco, Ambon sa Tagtuyot is a collection of selected poems whose launching also commemorates the birth of Jose Corazon de Jesus and marked Poetry Week.

Besides Ongoco’s original poems, the book contains translations in Filipino of works by Rizal, Apostol, Fernando Ma. Guerrero, Rafael Zulueta de Costa, Bienvenido N. Santos, Alejandro R. Roces, Max Enmann, Blake, Whitman, Shakespeare, Poe, Barrett Browning, Longfellow, Tennyson, Leigh Hunt, Ernest Henley, Hilton, John Macrae, Robert Paul Moreno and Ninoy Aquino.

National Artist Alejandro R. Roces wrote the prologue.

Presidential Adviser on Culture and NCCA executive director Cecile Guidote Alvarez describes Ongoco’s poems as "mirrors of our identity as Filipinos as they connect to our roots and history as a nation".

NCCA member Vim Nadera says Ambon sa Tagtuyot "is a noble work, a reunion of grand works of poetry which aims to symbolize the nation."

Author Ongoco is president of QC Academy, a former science researcher and education director of the EarthSavers Dreams Academy.

Ambon is Ongoco’s 11th book which includes a collection of short stories, novels, parables, college literature and translations of the Noli and the Fili serialized on DZRH’s Radyo Balintataw.

The 384-page coffee table book The British Legacy to the Philippines: 425 years of Philippine-British Relations by Bing Carrion-Buck was re-launched at the cocktail reception hosted last Dec. 7 by British Ambassador Peter and Jill Beckingham for the Philippine-British Society. The handsome book includes little-known facts about the British in this country. Did you know

That Sir Francis Drake, on board the Golden Hind, arrived in Mindanao in 1579, exactly 425 years ago;

That about 200 British companies actively operate in the Philippines; together they employ over 100,000 people;

That approximately 100,000 Filipinos now reside in Britain;

That our first sugar refinery and first mechanical rice mill were built by Smith Bell, a British company;

That a Britisher, Robert McCullough Dick, invented the term ‘Juan de la Cruz’ (Incidentally, Dick was publisher of the pre-war weekly magazine, The Philippine Free Press.);

That Andres Bonifacio was once employed by a British firm;

That the Malampaya project spearheaded by SPEX is the largest, most significant investment in Philippine business, with a total financing requirement of US$2 billion;

That banknote paper used for Philippine currency is being supplied by a British company, De la Rue Currency, through its division Portals which has been using our abaca fiber since 2000;

That every four hours, Coats Manila Bay makes enough thread to reach the moon and back;

That the country’s number one pharmaceutical firm is GlaxoSmithKline, a British company currently developing a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer;

That Dunlop Slazenger Philippines, based in Bataan, produces 60 percent of all tennis balls worldwide, and supplies the tennis balls used in Wimbledon and the Australian Open;

That since 1996 a British company, Mabey and Johnson Ltd., has built bridges in the country and has been opening one bridge every four days since August 2004;

That a Britisher, Jennifer Wallum, MBE, spearheads an NGO that has established 31 Aeta schools in the Pinatubo area.

In this regard, Jill Beckingham informed me sometime ago that the young British millionaire Dylan Wilkes left the UK permanently and spent his fortune building housing communities throughout the Philippines for the Gawad Kalinga Foundation.

Wilkes eventually married the daughter of the GK founder, and is now happily settled in QC.

In a sequel, this episode might be included by Bing as well as the fact that Jill Beckingham heads the Spouses of the Heads of Mission (SHOM) which raises funds for various projects, among them the GK.

The facts Bing uncovered (as well as scores more) involved two years of research. Her historical book is available at Seagull Philippines, tel. no. 7760607. Bing may be contacted through tel. no. 8247505.

Eminent painter Araceli Limcaco Dans recently launched a book at the opening of her retrospective exhibit in Galerie Y, Makati. The show ends Dec. 20.

Slow Food (Anvil Publishing), co-edited by Felice P. Sta. Maria and Erlinda E. Panlilio was launched at Le Soufflé, Rockwell. The book’s recipes return to Philippine culinary traditions, hence the title Slow Food as opposed to fast food(s).

Agustinus, Homo Religiosus by Dr. Macario M. Ofilada will be launched today, 6 p.m., at the San Agustin Museum curated by Fr. Pedro Galende. National Artist for Literature Alejandro Roces will be guest speaker.

The Sinag Tala will stage its 5th Christmas presentation "Come to the Stable" on Dec. 18, 6 p.m., at the Holy Trinity Church, Forbes Park.

The program concept is children performing for children; beneficiary will be Batang Pinoy Feeding Program. Participants are the internationally-awarded Philippine Children’s Choir from Mandaluyong and the Mary the Queen Children’s Choir from San Juan. All proceeds (at P300 a ticket) will go to the Feeding Program.